News

StFX Collaboration to drive material discovery in Canada

In order to speed up the process of new materials discovery, urgently needed for better solar and battery materials, lighter but stronger alloys and more efficient catalysts, St. Francis Xavier University’s (StFX) physicists and chemists are collaborating with Lumiant Corporation, a Canadian materials science company.

The tried and tested method of discovering new materials takes to long and is too costly and risky and Lumiant’s Xaedra™ platform offers a solution by combining AI and quantum physics into a system that predicts material properties from atomic structure information. To test this new artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform that is expected to revolutionize how materials are discovered, the Luminant Corporation is collaborating with StFX, so that the university’s researchers can test Xaedra before its release by using the platform in their research. Other academic researchers across Canada are also participating in this beta testing program.

“Through our collaboration with Lumiant, StFX researchers and students have a great opportunity to be at the forefront of new material research with a technology that promises to fundamentally alter how materials are discovered,” says Dr. Kevin B. Wamsley, StFX Academic Vice-President and Provost. “This work will enable our science students to gain valuable insights into the rapidly evolving world of material science.”

StFX physics professor Dr. Brandon van Zyl, a lead investigator bringing this state-of-the-art collaboration, along with StFX Industry Liaison Manager Andrew Kendall and Lumiant Business Development Manager Charles Robison, agrees. “My physics students are excited about using this quantum mechanics-based computing platform to solve real-world problems – to possibly discover new materials."